Incentivos a subfacturar desde terceros países

XXX is not planning to be marketed through tourist agencies, so the target market has to be reached through different direct marketing communication tools. The first reason for not choosing the service of travel agencies is that the commissioner wants to be in control as much as possible of the service chain the customer faces during the whole process, beginning from the booking of the trip. Secondary reason is the high commission fee travel agencies charge for their services (XXX 2013.)

In these days, World Wide Web is the most popular channel to communicate with users. According to Indexmundi (2013), the total population of Germany was over 81 million inhabitants in 2013. Regarding to the Internet World Stats`s (2012) research, 83% of the German population were using the Internet actively in 2012. This data ranks Germany as the 7th most active Internet user country in the world in 2012.

In the following table, the age distribution of the Internet usage in the first quarter of 2012 can be seen. According to these data, 71% of the 45-64 year old German citizens use the Internet every day, also 59% of the 65+ group of people use the Internet actively every day. These numbers prove that the senior group is rather easily approachable through web-based marketing tools.

Table 12. Age Distribution of Internet Usage in 2013 (Destatis 2013)

Age group Every day/nearly every day At least once a week At least once a month Altogether 77% 18% 6% 10-15 years 63% 28% 8% 16-24 years 90% 8% No data 25-44 years 84% 12% 3% 45-64 years 71% 21% 8% 65 and older 59% 29% 12%

3.4.1 Social Media

Shortly, social media is today’s interactive form of public relations. It allows businesses to get to know their customers as it was not possible before. It encompasses a wide variety of content formats such as video, picture, PDF and PowerPoint, audio and text. It also provides one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many real time communication exchange between users. The users can access social media via computer, tablets or mobile phones. Social media includes channels only for user-generated content (Cohen 2011.)

Social media can be also described as an online platform for people to engage in a conversation. Individuals can share contents with their friends to share their interests. Businesses can monitor what people think of their brand, and are also able to start a conversation with customers to get to know more about their needs. This way businesses can develop their products or services according to their customers’ opinion. Since social media has become so popular nowadays, being present and active on these channels is a critical customer care element for businesses. Customers find those companies trust-worthy that are active on social media, as they are being openly present (Cohen 2011.)

Social media includes all online communication channels together, and enables its users to interact, collaborate and share content. One of the most important social media channels isFacebook. It lets users to create a profile for free, which can consists of pictures, videos, PDF files, Power Point, audio and text contents. Users can communicate with their friends, family and collegues through their profile. A second very popular channel is called Twitter. It functions as a free microblogging service and allows members to share short posts called ‘tweets’. It also allows members to become followers of each other’s tweets. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia that is created and maintained by the members called Wikipedians. LinkedIn was designed for the business community. It lets its members to upload their professional

background in order to built a professional social network among friends and people working in the same field. Reddit is a social channel to share news and stories. The site is written by sub-communities called ’subreddits’. Each subreddit is written on a different topic such as politics, music, techonology. Pinterest helps to share and categorizy images online. The main focus of the site is on the visual content. Each pictures directs the user back to its original location (WhatIs.com 2012.)

In Table 13, the top social networks among German Internet users in 2012 are listed. As it is seen all social network providers were used by millions.

Table 13. Top 10 Social Networks Among Internet Users in Germany, 2012 (E-Strategy Trends 2012)

Social network channels Amount of active users 1. Facebook 38,6 millions 2. XING 4,2 millions 3. StayFriends 3,5 millions 4. Twitter 3,1 millions 5. Odnoklassniki.ru 2,9 millions 6. Ask.fm 2,8 millions 7. LinkedIn 2,7 millions 8. Tumblr 2,6 millions 9. wer-kennt-wen.de 2,5 millions 10. DaWanda 2,2 millions

According to Table 14, Germans are active internet users. Also older people are actively engaged in the social media networks. These facts are promising for the commissioner. The numbers reflect that the niche segment can be reached effectively through different social media networks.

Table 14. Age Distribution in Holidays Booked Online in 2011 in Germany (DRV 2011)

Age Amount of bookings

18-30 years 20% 31-40 years 20% 41-50 years 50% 51-60 years 20% 61-70 years 8% over 70 years 2%

As it is shown in Figure 2, German booking behaviour was the following in 2012 compaired to 2005. This research predicts the increasing popularity of online booking and the decreasing trend of travel agencies.

The commissioner should actively engage in using different social media channels. First, a company profile page should be created on Facebook. The profile should be illustrated with beautiful images taken by a professional photographer to attract more followers. After gaining a right amount of followers the commissioner should start an interactive conversation with its audience. The posts should be engaging enough to increase interest. For example pictures of daily life in Lapland and recipes of traditional dishes could be posted on Facebook. The blog could be started separately or through Facebook as including the link of the blog on the company’s profile. Everyday tweets on Twitter should be utilized as well. Twitter and Pinterest are both linked together with Facebook and let each other know in case of a new post. If the followers subscribed to one of these, they instantly will be notified in case of a new post, comment or upload. These social media channels should contain less text than the blog, which would function like an article or a journal.

3.4.2 Blog

A blog is a communication tool that organizes diary-type documentation in chronological order and archives of older articles. The articles are organized into categories. Blogs can range from personal to political or scientific subjects. Many blogs deal with one particular topic as sports, technology or home decor. Some function as personal journals, representing the author’s thoughts and daily life (Wordpress.org 2013.)

The act of writing and posting a blog is called blogging. Leaving comments on someone else’s blog is also called blogging. Blogs became very famous nowadays since this type of communication enables people to leave their comments and to interact with other readers (Sterne 2001, 270.)

Travel blogs are a growing activity nowadays and they consist of user- generated content. These blogs are useful and important for tour operators, travel agencies and accommodation providers (Sterne 2001, 270.)

Blogs were the first form of online social network that let people to express their opinion like an online diary and also allowed them to have a conversation with other users. Nowadays some blogs and their authors called bloggers have become so famous that their blogs function as an online magazine or newspaper (Sheehan 2010, 99.) For this reason, blogs became one of the most important marketing communication tools these days. Blogs are greatly influencing consumer’s purchasing behavior. Before a purchase decision, people tend to look for reviews on blogs. Popular bloggers can have a huge impact on the follower’s decision. To exploit this huge influence, blogs sell space for advertising purposes. Companies are trying to influence bloggers as well. On a regular basis companies send products to bloggers in return for a product review (Sheehan 2010, 61.)

According to the following table, 27% of the niche market is actively using social media channels such as chats, blogs and social networks. Blogging is going to act as one of the main marketing communication channel in order to reach the target market for the commissioner as well.

Table 15. Online Social Media Activities by Age Distribution in the First Quarter of 2012 (Destatis 2013)

Age group Active participation in social networks, forums, blogs, chats

Altogether 42%

10-15 years 59%

16-24 years 86%

45-64 years 21%

In order to grow a blog, time has to be spent on promotion. Since there are so many blogs on the Internet, search engines are not the most effective tools to drive awareness and traffic to one’s blog. There are many different steps that one could follow to achieve awareness towards his or her blog. One important step is to find other blogs and leave comments on them. If this step is maintained, other users will slowly start noticing. After each comment, the user’s own blog’s URL should be stated, so that the other users could visit it easily. Luckily, there are quite many personal blogs and forums written by Germans living in Finland on the Internet. Leaving comments on their blogs can awake interest in their followers who might check the commissioner’s blog and become followers of her site too (About.com 2013.)

Another important step is to remember post frequently. Each new post helps for search engines to find the blog (About.com 2013.) The most effective topics in the case of the commissioner are posts about everyday life in Lapland illustrated with spectacular pictures. Posting details about life in Lapland from cuisines to transportation would be an interesting topic for the target group living in Central Europe. Recipes and beautiful pictures could be also included in the content of the blog.

Participating in online forums related to the blogger’s topic, can attract more traffic as well. After stating the user name, the link to the blog could be left, so it is always available to other users. Promotional opportunities offered by social media channels is also a key to success. After joining the most popular sites, for example Facebook or Twitter, a link to the blog can be posted in the user’s profile. Including the blog URL to email signature, business card and to basically every possible places will boost traffic (About.com 2013.)

Holding a blog contest in a form of a give-away, is also a beneficial tool. A small or bigger price can be offered for one or more users. If the price is tempting enough, more and more people are going to subscribe to the blog. Guest blogging is an often used tool to attract more reader to one’s blog. Teaming up with another blogger and guest blogging at each other’s blogs will attract visitors from both sides to the other (About.com 2013.)

3.4.3 Search Engine Optimization

Search engine marketing can be divided into two basic parts, natural search and paid search. Natural search includes free search engine providers such as Google and Yahoo!. Search engines ‘crawl’ the web to find relevant information for the search word. These ‘crawlers’ are also known as ‘spiders’. The keyword is used to match the content of the websites and the search engine measures whether the site is relevant or not. If a company wants to be found it has to be linked to numerous keywords. For example, a department store appears when customers type words like ‘dress’ or ‘umbrella’ or ‘ parfume’ into the free search engine. Since there are so many companies and products on the market, employing scientific approches and resources in order to improve search results can be crucial. This is called search-engine optimization (SEO). In order to optimise natural search, choosing the right keywords can offer more traffic. Also giving relevant names to one’s site’s pages is a smart move. Submitting a site to many specialised directories creates many relevant links to a site makes the spider easier to find also (Sheehan 2010, 36-37.)

Paid search is a guaranteed place on a search result page. It can also be a rotation of results based on the amount marketers pay for the place. In these days the biggest source for advertising revenue comes from paid search advertising. Paid and natural search results are presented on the same webpage. Usually paid search results are shaded with different colors or labelled as ‘sponsored links’. Google, the largest search engine, sells these spots for keywords based on a certain auction (Sheehan 2010, 38.)

Search ads are usually sold on a cost-per-click (CPC) way. This means that the advertiser pays the search engine after every time someone clicks on it. This cost can be relatively cheap or expensive depending on the keyword and the competition. Paid search is important for marketers as it guarantees visibility. On the other hand natural search results have higher click rates (Sheehan 2010, 39.)

According to the table below, more than 80% of Germans seek for information about consumer goods and services in the internet. The senior group is also very active on searching information online.

Table 16. Online Activities by Age Distribution Among Germans in 2012 (Destatis 2013)

Age group Information about consumer goods and services Altogether 88% 10-15 years 59% 16-24 years 85% 25-44 years 94% 45-64 years 91%

65 years and older 84%

The keywords used in the text of the company’s website should be considered carefully. The recommended keywords are: Lapland, Arctic holiday, art/culture holiday, creative holiday, experience holiday, individual holiday, name of the different events and festivals, summer and winter in Lapland, Finland

3.5 Other Recommended Marketing Communication Tools